Joined on 06/28/02
Sweet case with great PSU
Pros: Well designed and built case for Mini ITX. It can have 1 slim optical, 2 3.5" drives, one internal, one external/internal, and also another 2.5" drive -- more than the spec says. The power supply is PFC corrected, highly efficient, and quiet. Great bonus I did not expect.
Cons: The case fan is a little noisy. You can quiet it down with Zalman Fanmate. Also, it uses 80x80x18 (20?). Not standard. 80x80x25 probably fits however. The front panel can snag with tray type slim optical door. I wish the case comes with the power adapter for slim optical. You'll need an adapter.
Overall Review: The front panel is a personal taste and I don't dig. The paint job is standard. I'm spoiled with Antec's power coat. I cannot complement enough about the power supply. It is totally unexpectedly good quality. Pick slot loading slim optical for this.
Not a good fit with MacBook
Pros: Cheap, big and quiet.
Cons: I'm not sure it's the drive or MacOS X, but my MacBook does lock up during long idle some of the times, and the kernel backtrace says that it's a lock up waiting the disk to respond when it happens. The disk is not spinning up after spin down. It works OK after reboot, so it's not a bad hardware, but could be a bug in the disk firmware. Since I did not see any issue with Seagate drive, I'll probably get rid of Samsung drive and go back to Seagate for my MacBook, as I don't like power cycling every other day.
Amazing and impressive
Pros: Small Easy access to every corner Inexpensive Unbelievable amount of disk mounting options Perfectly labeled accessory box with generous amount of screws and cable ties Great build quality Easy to take off and put on every panel Fits full size ATX power supply Fits with full size CPU heatsink with 120mm fan Understated look (I don't need the side window)
Cons: Nit - it might be able to have the 2nd option for the motherboard stand-off.
Overall Review: I cannot believe how good the case is. I moved the motherboard form really nice Antec mATX case to this one for the sake of downsizing the physical size. I've built so many PCs with various size and various components, and I always prefer the small case because, once it's built, it's easy to move it around. The thinking went into this case is absolutely unparalleled, including the small accessory plastic box. I looked for the small mATX cases and this is the hands down the best case I've worked on. Every panel comes without tool, the brackets/braces are secured by minimal screws yet everything fits so well. Ventilation is as good as any other case. I have a NVME onboard + 2.5" SATA in this but I could mount so many disks if I wanted. I turned it on, and looking at its size and noticing the air flow. I'm so amazed how good this case is.
Silent small server
Pros: Comes with a quad core CPU with passive heatsink.
Cons: Realtek Gigabit Ethernet. SO-DIMM memory.
Overall Review: It's a perfect HTPC or low power server board. I use it to run MythTV backend, and IMAP server.
Works great
Pros: Power adapter with switch. IDE/SATA with switch. USB 3 interface. Pretty zippy even with USB 2.
Cons: USB cable not detachable.
Overall Review: Having IDE/SATA and power switches is very useful. When the disk is not recognized, toggle one of two switches and voila!, the disk is recognized. Previous one I had has no switches, and recognizing disk was rather iffy.
Perfect for tiny applience
Pros: Solid material/design. Not the best look, but not that bad either. Small. Comes with the power supply. There is a hole that you can install RP-SMA connector on side.
Cons: Power connector is on the side, not in the back, which limits the orientation of box. No reset button. Fit and finish can be better. If you need the second and third RP-SMA connectors, you need to drill, which I did. I wish there were two USB ports in front.
Overall Review: The box can be a perfect silent mini server at home. I run a pfSense firewall with AMD geode mini ITX board with this. It's been a year in service, working great. If you need more than 60W of power in this case, you are doing something wrong. The case does not have good ventilation, so you need to keep the power consumption minimal. My Geode board eats about 15W at AC, and the box gets comfy warn without fan. I cannot imagine putting in CPUs other than ATOM, Geode or Hudson. Maybe, Sandy/Ivy bridge with 35W TDP CPUs are OK but then you may have to put in a fan. The case is very sturdy, and can take some amount of punishment such as stepping on or being dropped. (LOL) Obviously for this size, if you need a CPU fan, you need to look for 1U server heatsink.
Avoid Future in future
They push out a lot of product listings and more likely they don't have it in stock. They create a shipping label, and just sit on it until you start complaining. They make lame excuses for delay but it's clear they are lying. I hope Newegg removes this sellter in future.